A group of nine coral islands midway between Australia and Hawaii had much to celebrate. They’d won their independence from Great Britain, gained admittance to the United Nations and due to the abbreviation of the country’s name, tv, they were selling .tv domain names to people all over the world. Tuvalu is one of the few dot-com success stories.
Tuvalu’s elation turned to fear when they began to notice that the surrounding ocean was rising and threatened to obliterate their homeland. According to scientists, the cause could be a result of global warming which appears to be melting the world’s glaciers and the polar ice caps – a potential catastrophe for Tuvalu, which at its highest point is only 15 feet above sea level. This one-hour special will transport viewers to what’s become the unlikely center of the international debate over the effects of climate change – Tuvalu.
This is an opportunity to make a difficult and contentious scientific subject understandable and concrete. We will use compelling filmmaking to explore real-life issues that involve adventure, science, natural history and human interest in a way that is ideal for family viewing. While, this special is about the least populated nation in the world, next to the Vatican, its fate affects us all. Like the proverbial canary in the mine, the destruction of Tuvalu could be the early warning of pending global ecological disasters.
The government of Tuvalu has invited our film crew in to document life on the islands today. We’ll see how life there is in many ways unchanged from what it was when the original Polynesian pioneers landed more than 2,000 years ago. Today’s inhabitants fish, raise pigs and grow taro, bananas and coconuts on small plots of land that have been in their families for countless generations.
Men and women commonly wear flowers in their hair. Many houses have thatched roofs and walls made of woven mats. When the country's 12-member Parliament is not meeting in the open-sided Falekaupule, or meeting hall, boys play soccer there. While all appears tranquil on the surface, we’ll see how this tiny nation is coming together to find a solution to a problem of Biblical proportions. Like Noah, fleeing the flood, Tuvalu’s leaders are considering whether they should pack up their populace, their animals and their belongings and seek a new home. They are also debating taking a more modern approach to problem solving -- filing a lawsuit. But, who do you sue and would any remedy come in time to reverse the damage that has begun?
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